An introduction to Information Literacy LIS560

Information Age Need for students to be learners Knowledge growth Technology overload More flexible career paths Changes in working conditions Need for critical thinking skills and problem solving LIS560

LIS560

Information Literacy “To be information literate a person must be able to recognise when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate and use effectively the needed information.” A.L.A. Presidential committee on information Literacy. Final Report (1989). Chicago (ED 315 074) LIS560

Further reading Presidential report on Information Literacy Full report (Many other interesting articles here) Falling through the Net: Digital Inclusion. Department of Commerce Executive summary LIS560

WHAT IS DOES IT MEAN TO USERS? LIS560

Doyle (1992) with a Delphi study established that “ Information Literacy is the ability to access, evaluate and use information form a variety of sources Doyle, C.S (1992) Outcomes Measures for Information Literacy Within National Education Goals of 1990. Final Report to National Forum on Information on Information Literacy. Flagstaff, Az: National Forum on Information Literacy LIS560

Quality Researchers (Rand) checked out 6 health Web sites and 12 sites dedicated to specific diseases. How frequently Web sites are complete and accurate: Breast cancer 63% Depression 44% Obesity 37% Childhood asthma 33% U.S. News & World Report, June 4, 2001 v130 i22 p10 LIS560

Quality “More than 2/3 of teens said within the last year that they use the Internet as their major resource when doing a big project for school..." Lester, Will "High School Students Love Net for Research." Syracuse Post Standard, 8/21/01 (from AP ) LIS560

Quality In a study of 500 sites used by Colorado high school students to do research, only 27% of the sites were judged to be reliable for academic research! Ebersol, Samuel, “Uses and Gratifications of the Web among Students,” Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 6(1): September 2000, www.ascusc.org/jcmc/vol6/issue1/ebersole.html Colhoun, Alexander. "But - - I Found It on the Internet!" Christian Science Monitor. 25 April 2000: 16. LIS560

Quality Advice on the Net: The top legal advice person on Askme.com turned out to be a 14 year old whose only legal training was from Court TV and cop shows But – just as interesting, when he was finally “uncovered,” the demand for his advice still continued! Michael Lewis, New York Times Magazine, July 2001; also Next (Norton, 2001) LIS560

Information Literacy as a process Information Process models (1980s) Big Six ( Eisenberg, Berkowitz) 1986 Kuhlthau: 6 steps affective side of IL NSW (Australia) Information Process 1986 Pitts/ Stripling 1988: reflective aspect to the process Now users and producers of information LIS560

Eisenberg and Berkowitz’s Life long learning Information process is in all parts of life …not enough to know content; processes are more important based on Bloom’s taxonomy (1956) see module 3 LIS560

Information Literacy 1. Task Definition 2. Info Seeking Strategies Big 6 1. Task Definition 2. Info Seeking Strategies 3. Location & Access 4. Use of Information 5. Synthesis 6. Evaluation LIS560

The Big6: Non-Linear TD E ISS S L&A UI LIS560 What to speak about? That’s a Big6 problem. Quickly, here’s what I did – (go through the Big6 quickly to select the topic; then will go through the Big6 again to create the presentation) UI LIS560

The Big6: Not Linear TD S ISS L&A UI S UI S E ISS L&A UI S E LIS560

User and producers cont.. Trial and error navigation Non linear Multitasking a way of life Ethical issues seem overlooked Whilst stereotypes Digital natives Web generation 2007 national school board report found 96% use social networking tools Lorraine Bruce

How do librarians respond to this? Learn Immerse Scan Be creative Read current literature Observe trends Build learning communities Lorraine Bruce